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NICs and termination payments

Apr 30, 2019

The National Insurance Contributions (NICs) Bill was introduced into Parliament on 25 April 2019. The Bill will see the introduction of a new 13.8% Employer Class 1A NIC charge on termination payments and sporting testimonials that are already liable to Income Tax from 6 April 2020. The government announced this change at Budget 2018.

This means that from next April, termination payments over £30,000 and sporting testimonials of more than the £100,000 limit will be subject to Employer Class 1A NIC charge. These changes will ensure that termination awards and sporting testimonials have the same Income Tax and NIC treatment. It will also close a commonly used loophole where employers disguise final payments as compensatory termination payments that benefit from the current NIC exemption.

The government had previously confirmed that the £30,000 tax free exemption on termination payments would be retained but that certain payments will no longer fall within the allowance. It is expected that any employer NIC ue on these termination payments will be collected in 'real-time', as part of the employer’s standard weekly or monthly payroll returns and remittances to HMRC.